Tonight, with the help of the Lord, we
want to consider the strengthening ministry of the
Spirit of God and the spirit ministry and
dispensing gifts.
The first scripture that I would like to
refer you to is in the Old Testament,
the book of Zechariah, chapter 4.
We've been considering the wonderful truths of the
indwelling Spirit of God, of his dealings with
us from the very earliest of our spiritual
experience, and we want to take this study
right through until his last ministry to us
in this world where he lives.
Of course, we will have to consider it
tomorrow night.
But tonight we want to consider the strengthening
ministry of the Spirit of God, and oh
how we need this.
We preface our little study by making the
remark that this is a day in which
we are depending on the strength of the
flesh rather than the strength of the spirit.
There is such a tendency to depend on
the flesh, such a tendency to lean on
the arm of flesh.
We dare not do this.
We try to depend on our own wisdom
instead of the wisdom of the Lord.
We try to undertake for ourselves instead of
really seeing what God can do through us
rather than what we can do for him.
Certainly when we get to glory we're going
to find out, and this study I trust
will help us to realize it down here
below, that we have absolutely nothing in this
living book for our own self.
And certainly the Spirit of God is the
strength of the Christian life.
Now in Zechariah chapter 4 we read, The
angel that talked with me came again and
waked me, as a man that is wakened
out of his sleep, and said unto me,
What seest thou?
And I said, I have looked, and behold
a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl
upon the top of it, and its seven
lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven
lamps which are upon the top thereof, and
two olive trees by it, one on the
right side of the bowl, and the other
on the left side thereof.
So I answered and spake to the angel
that talked with me, saying, What are these,
my lord?
Then the angel that talked with me answered
and said unto me, Knowest thou not what
these be?
And I said, No, my lord.
And he answered and spake unto me, saying,
This is the word of the lord and
of the rubbable, saying, Not by might, nor
by power, but by my spirit, saith the
lord of hosts.
Who art thou, O great mountain?
The pores of the rubbable thou shalt become
a flame, and ye shall bring forth the
headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Great, great unto
us.
This is Zechariah, the prophet of the restoration,
or rather the return of the children of
Israel, the restoration to the land, after the
Babylonian captivity.
He really, to understand Haggaiah and Zechariah and
Malachi, we need to read the books of
Ezra and Nehemiah.
And those two books will give us something
of the history of the children of Israel
as they came back from the land of
Babylon to the land of Israel.
Now, you remember that one of the first
things they did was to lay the foundation
of the temple, to rebuild the temple and
to reestablish the worship which they had not
enjoyed, the ceremonial worship, offering of sacrifices and
so on, which they had not enjoyed in
the land of Babylon.
That was their first thought.
They set that temple up.
They began it.
And the Jews are the others rather of
the land, the peoples of the land, especially
those of Edomite and those other nations that
were there, that had been the nations that
the kings had used to re-people the
land of Israel after the Jews were carried
away to Babylon.
They objected.
They sent a letter to the kings and
they said, if you will review your records
you will find that the rebuilding of this
city and the rebuilding of this temple will
not be for the good of your kingdom
because this has been a rebellious city.
This temple, these people have been a rebellious
people.
And a church was made and they found
out something in the history of the Jews
and then they called for work to be
ceased.
And it ceased for fourteen long years.
And finally the children of Israel got into
such a state of lethargy in regards to
the rebuilding of the temple that they just
weren't interested in rebuilding it.
And through Haggai and Zechariah, they were spurred
up by the Lord to rebuild that temple.
Now, the rubble bull was a prince and
he was of the tribe of Judah and
he was very instrumental in rebuilding that temple.
But the children of Israel, they were weak
in their faith and they had become occupied
in material things and the temple of God
was not being rebuilt.
And they became fearful for the opposition.
They remembered how the theft program was stopped
fourteen years prior to that by Artaxerxes, I
believe it was Artaxerxes who caused it.
And they were just timid.
They lacked faith.
And so this was the message.
You don't need to be worried about your
lack of might.
You don't need to be worried about your
lack of power.
Anything that's accomplished as God is going to
be accomplished by the Spirit of God.
Not by my name, nor by power, but
by my Spirit sent to the Lord of
hosts.
Who art thou, O great mountain?
And certainly the rebuilding of that temple looked
like a mountain to these Jews that had
come back to the land of Palestine.
Who art thou, O great mountain?
Before the rubble bull thou shalt become a
slave.
That mountain was just moved out.
Why?
Because of the power of the Spirit of
God.
He could not be their power.
He could not be their might.
They didn't have to have the power.
They didn't have to have the might.
They only had to have the power of
the Spirit of God.
So, rubble bull, that looks like a mountain
to you.
You will be a slave.
You will be slain before the power of
the Spirit of God.
And he shall bring forth a headstone, a
headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Moreover the word
of the Lord came unto me, saying, The
hands of the rubble bull have laid the
foundation of this house, and his hands shall
also finish it.
And thou shalt know that the Lord of
hosts hath sent me unto you.
For who hath despised the day of small
things?
For they shall rejoice and see the plummet
in the hands of the rubble bull.
This is the plumb bob.
With those seven, they are the eyes of
the Lord, which run to and fro through
the whole earth.
When you see a plummet, when you see
a plumb bob in the hands of a
man, you know this building program is just
about done.
It should be interesting to you who are
engaged in the building program right now.
Don't be pained by it.
The Spirit of God is going to see
this program through.
I'm just quite certain.
And the plumb bob has been held up.
And who hath despised the day of small
things?
Fear God, and accomplish that which ye can
not accomplish.
You need to know that, because the strength
of the flesh will invariably fail you.
Fear God gives the promise.
The rubble bull started this building, and the
rubble bull is going to finish it.
Isn't that a nice promise from God?
Isn't it a nice promise that God will
give the strength to finish that which ye
have begun?
He certainly can, and he certainly will.
How encouraging that it's the Spirit of God.
It's not man in his power at all.
It is the Spirit of God in his
report.
Now, Paul speaks of the strength of the
Spirit in Ephesians chapter 3.
I suppose I should have added, while we
were talking back there in Zechariah, about the
fact that that temple was as nothing compared
with the temple of Solomon when the temple
was completed.
Oh, what a time of rejoicing.
The foundations were laid.
The young men shouted, and the old men
wept.
They remembered the bygone days.
They remembered Solomon's temple.
Oh, and this temple was nothing compared with
it.
Nothing, nothing compared with it.
I'll tell you, God was interested in the
building of this temple.
There's no record in the Restoration Temple ever
being visited with the Shekinah glory of the
Lord.
It's just not recorded.
There's no record that the Shekinah glory ever
visits this parish temple.
It was 46 years in building.
But I'll tell you, God was interested just
the same.
He was interested just the same.
You only have to turn to the book
of Haggai to see how God was interested
in the building of this temple.
And I think the Lord is interested in
your building program as well.
Now, in the third chapter of Ephesians, Verse
14, For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named, that he would grant you,
according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might by his Spirit in
the inner man.
Now, this is the prayer of the Apostle
Paul.
He's praying for two things principally.
Well, we'll read on.
Verse 17, That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is of breadth and
length and depth and height, and to know
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that
ye may be filled with all the fullness
of God.
Now unto him that is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in
us.
What is that power?
It's the Spirit of God.
He prayed up here in the earlier part
of this prayer that he would grant you,
according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might by his Spirit in
the inner man.
And now, he can do exceeding abundantly above
all we ask or think, according to the
power that worketh in us.
Unto him be glory in the church, like
Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, worlds without ends.
Amen.
Now, the Spirit of God is the power
of the Christian life.
When we were born again, we received the
life, but that life only gave us the
God-consciousness.
That life that we received was not a
life of power at all, but it gave
us the God-consciousness and appreciation for the
things of God.
God himself is the power of the Christian
life.
The Spirit of God is the power of
the Christian life.
Life is an appreciation of things, and life
is consciousness.
But life is not power.
Now, there is a natural power that we
do have, that's in muscle power.
But that's not true in the things of
God.
God has left us powerless in everything.
Now, I don't mean that we can't serve
the Lord with our bodies.
We're encouraged to give our bodies, to offer
our bodies as a living sacrifice in Romans
chapter 12.
But the power of the Christian life is
the Spirit of God.
The life that we have at the new
birth, or the very life of Christ, is
an appreciation for the things of God and
consciousness.
Sometimes we ask people, Are you saved?
Well, I don't know.
That's kind of an odd way to answer
that question, Are you saved?
Well, I don't know.
I was illustrating this to a group of
boys and girls on one occasion, and, or
to an audience, and I selected the boys
and girls to illustrate it, and I pointed
to a boy in the audience, whose name
happened to be Philip.
And I said, Philip, are you alive?
He looked up at me and he said,
Yes.
I said, Can you prove it?
And his eyes garnered about, and he began
to think, and he was absolutely puzzled.
How was he going to prove that he
was alive?
He knew he was alive, but how could
he prove it?
I said, Well, I'm asking you to prove
it.
How can you prove that you're alive?
Well, he couldn't do it.
He couldn't prove that he was alive.
Finally, a little girl raised her hand, and
she said, I know how.
And I said, How can you do it?
And she said, I can see.
I said, That's right.
That's right.
And it caught on.
And another said, I know how.
And I said, How?
I can hear.
That's right.
And they went through the five senses.
Now, those five senses give them consciousness.
Now, it's just as true in the spiritual
sense that we are conscious of God, and
that means life gives us spiritual consciousness.
Now, if we had the time, we could
find in the spiritual realm all the things
that answer to our five senses.
And we can find them in the spiritual
realm.
We have God consciousness.
I can't quite understand that response.
I don't know whether I'm saved or not.
I know whether I'm alive or not.
Do I have a God consciousness?
Well, I should have.
Believe me.
Somebody asked Billy Graham, when the controversy was
raging, the God of death controversy, they asked
Mr. Graham how he felt about it.
They asked him, Do you believe what God
has said?
He says, Indeed I do not.
He says, I was just talking to him
this morning.
There is such a thing as spiritual consciousness.
I have physical consciousness.
How about that?
I don't know whether I'm saved.
I don't know whether I'm alive or not.
Spiritually.
I can't get the problem.
I can't understand it.
Do we have consciousness?
Do we have contact when we talk to
God?
We should have.
We personally should have.
But all of that, with all of that,
we send a new life, a new power,
nothing short of the spirit of God.
The spirit of God is the power of
the Christian mind.
Now we need to realize that.
We need to realize it in a wonderful,
wonderful way.
And I think that that's the answer to
what we have here in verse 20 of
this third chapter of Ephesians.
Incidentally, I might have mentioned, although I think
I've taken up the subject here, in memory,
personally, that Paul is asking for two things
in this portion of Scripture that they might
understand, that they might appreciate, that they might
have the power of God in their lives
and the love of God in their lives.
And when you combine the power of God
and the love of God, you're going to
see some things happen.
And so he says, Now unto him that
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the
power that worketh in us, unto him be
glory in the church, by Christ Jesus.
Now God is able to do above all
that we ask or think, not according to
the power that worketh for us, but according
to the power that worketh in us.
Now, oftentimes, I think we use this Scripture,
and I'm not going to find fault with
anybody, if they use it in this way,
but oftentimes we think of this in connection
with the provision of God.
We ask him for a ford and we
get a Cadillac.
We ask him for something, and we get
so much greater than we ask for that
we say, well, look, the Bible says, Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think,
well, God is able to provide for us
above all that we ask or think.
But here, it's not material provisions, it's our
purpose that is in question.
It's now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think, according to the power that worketh
in us.
Not for us, but in us.
Now, here's the truth that I'd like to
present.
Here, God can do more with us, because
the Spirit of God is in power.
He can do more with us than through
us.
You may have any idea.
We think of ourselves sometimes as being weak.
We apologize for the weakness of the Church,
and there's no room for apology when we're
enveloped by the Spirit of God, and He
is the power of the Christian life.
We have faltered and undereased.
Who is it that is enveloping me?
Who is it that gives me the power
for the Christian life?
Who is it?
It's none other than the Spirit of God.
If that's what the Apostle says, now on
to Him that is able to do, to
do, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think.
And I trust that we do ask and
think of things that we can do for
God.
I know one thing, if Paul's prayer is
answered and we're enveloped by the power of
God and the love of God, things are
going to happen.
They're going to happen in our Christian experience.
We're going to see things done for God.
And He's able to do more than we
think.
Why?
It's according to the power that works in
us.
Now I know if you're leaning on the
arm of flesh, you well may have no
faith whatsoever to do and to dare for
God.
But if you're depending on the power of
the Spirit of God, that's another question.
When you're depending on that power, you're going
to find out that this verse is true.
You're going to find out that God will
do more for you.
He'll do exceeding abundantly above all that you
ask or think.
He'll exceed your prayers when you want to
do and to dare for Him because of
the unwilling of the Spirit of God within
you.
Now in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, we
have an example of how the Spirit of
God will indeed strengthen us.
Although He's not specifically mentioned in the 40th
chapter of Isaiah, but I want you to
see it.
Isaiah chapter 40, verse 29.
And I think we need this truth in
this day and age because I think we
have a defeated complex.
I think we have an apologetic attitude as
far as Christianity goes.
And we shouldn't have it.
Not at all.
None of it.
We read in verse 29, He giveth power
to the faint.
Now, notice that.
He giveth power to the faint.
And to them that have no might He
increases strength.
As a matter of fact, He had to
tell you about the fall.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
We can furnish the weakness.
God will furnish the power.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary,
and the young men shall utterly fall.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings of eagle.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint.
Now, there is a fear in which you
and I move There are three activities here.
I think all the activities of the Christian
life can be summarized in verse 31.
They shall mount up with wings of eagle.
Right up into the heavens.
I think that speaks of worship.
We go into the presence of God and
worship.
They shall run and not be weary.
I think that speaks of our service.
We serve and run.
And they shall walk and not faint.
That speaks of our everyday life.
Our everyday life is more or less done
on a walk.
Your service should be done on the run.
We have to extend ourselves to serve the
Lord, but we do like to walk a
little bit in regard to our daily duties
and our daily life with the Lord.
Now, in these fears, in this threefold activity,
our worship, our work, and our walk, I
think we see all of our activities.
In summary, of all of our activities, I
think that if you will analyze what you're
doing for the Lord, you'll find it all
under these three categories.
It would be either worship, or work, or
walk.
There is a fear in which the powers
of youth do not prevail.
The very power of that, the body, however
you may want to summarize it, just simply
plays out.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary.
And the young men shall utterly fall.
Those that have the strongest in the prime
of their lives have all the powers of
youth.
And the things of God?
They find it to no avail.
This shows that human resource, human resource falls
short in the things of God.
And I don't care whether it's your strength,
your wisdom, your ingenuity, or anything that you
have.
It simply will not do in the things
of God.
But, they that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength.
Now, don't misunderstand me.
There is a verse in Lamentations that says
it's good for a man to serve the
Lord in his youth.
I don't mean that the powers of youth
can't be used for God.
I don't mean that our bodies, the strength
of our bodies, can't be used for the
Lord.
They can't.
God wants our bodies when we're young.
He says, seven, give me thine heart.
God wants to use these bodies of ours,
and I trust that none of you young
people here tonight have the experience of waking
up to the opportunities that you had to
serve the Lord when your teeth have all
fallen out and your hair's fallen off, and
you know all the things that can happen
to you.
And your youth is gone and your strength
is gone, and you say, oh my, why
didn't I see the opportunities that I had
long before this?
And even you seem to need to learn
that what is accomplished for God is accomplished
through the power of the Spirit of God.
When we lean on the arm of the
flesh, even when we're young, we're going to
fail.
We're going to fail.
But, they that wait upon the Lord, they
shall renew their strength, and they shall mount
up with wings of eagle.
This is highly suggestive, as far as I'm
concerned, because the eagle is a soaring bird.
He soars.
Now, the bird that soars, does it because
of a thermal.
That's what the aviators call a thermal.
It's a rising current of air.
And he just holds his wings out, and
the rising current of air does the work,
and he soars around and around, and he
gains altitude.
And he soars up in the blue, because
he is riding on a rising current of
air.
This is, as far as I'm concerned, is
one of the most apt pictures of worship
that I can think of.
It's a rising, ascending current of air.
Isn't that highly suggestive?
From the spirit of the very word in
the Greek, the spirit of God, which is
the same word that we use in Gnatic,
the Gnatic power.
That spirit is a breath of air.
And here, this is a warm, ascending current
that bears the eagle up into the sky.
And you know worshipers have wings.
You know, did you ever try to worship?
Pretty hard to do, isn't it?
You have to pump, and you have to
pump, and you have to pump, and you
don't get enough, and you don't get enough.
The spirit of God is the source of
worship.
It is through the spirit of God that
you and I worship.
Let's see the New Testament counterpart for these
suggestions here in Isaiah 40 and 31.
Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians chapter 3, verse 3.
For we are the circumcision which worship God
in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh.
Now, the spirit in other versions, I have
a birthday with me, is capitalized.
This is the spirit of God.
We worship God in the spirit.
He is the power for worship.
Now, you and I, I think, have the
experience, sometimes I end with a bird, while
I'm sitting reading my Bible out on the
farm over my daddy-in-law's farm years
ago, and I saw a hawk.
And he was flying around over the countryside
on a warm spring day, and he flew
over a black cloud field and he brought
his hawk with him.
And he began to circle around and around
and around, and I noticed he was getting
out of position, and he wasn't even moving.
He stopped laying out there just, oh, I
landed him.
And he was just laying there, and he
was just, you know, hanging out, and I
watched him, and I'm telling you, he became
such a small pet, and he flew.
He finally landed.
Didn't land.
You know, it's nice to be caught up
in the spirit of worship like that.
Without all you have to do as a
Christian is just spread your wings and let
the spirit of God take you into this
place.
If you have to work up worship, you
let me do it.
That's something that isn't on the Bible.
You don't talk about worship.
Sometimes, now I trust this will not make
any of you self-conscious, but sometimes I
keep thinking that sometimes when we remember the
Lord, we remember Jesus, I hear the word,
and I hear the fact that we're worshiping
too much.
I become bewildered when I hear it too
much.
Do you worship God by saying, we worship
Jesus?
Does that constitute worship, to tell the Lord,
Lord, we worship Jesus?
Not necessarily.
I'm not saying that he does.
If you don't worship by simply talking about
him, you spread your wings, and the spirit
of God takes you into the presence of
God.
It's by the power of the spirit of
God that you're born up in a warm,
ascending church.
And does that feel, does that feel like
holding your wings out that way?
I think it was, I think it was
D.L. Moody, his memory serves me right,
he was reading the word of God one
day, and he was caught in a warm
ascending church, and he was reading the word
of God, and he finally lifted up his
voice, and he said, Lord, take my hand,
I can bear no more.
His heart was healed, the spirit of God
was doing its work.
He spread his wings, and he was just
lifted into the presence of God.
Now that's what the spirit of God can
do, and the spirit of God only.
Yes, they shall mount up with me, as
he did.
They shall run, and not be worried.
I think we've already seen this in the
first chapter of Ephesians.
I think that we have seen this, now
unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all of the ascetics, according to
this law, will work it in us, as
far as our service is concerned.
We shall run, and not be weary.
We shall walk, and not faint.
I think the counterpart of that is in
Relations, chapter 5, about the Christian walk.
Shall we notice it, please?
Relations, chapter 5, verse
16, Then walk in the spirit, and ye
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh.
These are contrary one to the other, so
that she cannot do the things that she
would.
But if ye be led of the spirit,
ye are not under the law.
If we walk in the spirit, we will
not faint, we will not fall victim to
the lust of the flesh, we will not
quail, we will not cower in fear before
the lust of the flesh.
We will walk in the spirit, we will
not faint.
We need to walk in the spirit.
Now, walking in the spirit involves our daily
walk.
We are to walk in the spirit in
our daily lives.
And the lust of the flesh will not
have its way in our lives if we
are walking in the spirit.
We shall be strengthened according to our needs.
Now, this lesson is hardly that.
We're so inclined to lean on the arm
of flesh.
I suppose that some of you will remember
last day morning, we were talking to the
children, and I said probably they would enjoy
enjoying the illustration that I used about the
carburetor.
But, if you were here at that time,
and I'll repeat the story for the benefit
of some that are not here, Christian brother
and I were trying to overhaul the carburetor.
And we got down into the insides of
the carburetor, and we couldn't get a curtain
jet to pry it loose.
Or unscrew it.
We tried, and we tried, and we tried,
and we tried, and we finally had to
hold a prayer meeting over that carburetor.
We held a prayer meeting over that carburetor,
and we just kind of let it go.
Now, that's an illustration.
That's an illustration of how we exalt all
of our enforcement before we go to the
Lord.
Wouldn't it be wonderful, wouldn't it be wonderful
if we could realize that the power of
the Christian life is the Spirit of God
working through us.
Nothing's going to get to glory.
As a matter of fact, when we get
to heaven, I'm sure that we're going to
realize then that there is absolutely nothing that
we can glory in.
Our own vision, our own native ability, all
of the things, our vision, and all of
the things that we could possibly find any
consolation in, we're going to find out to
the end.
When we get to heaven, we're going to
find out the truth.
Should God be the glory?
Great things He has done.
That's not scripture.
That's the truth.
Nevertheless, the power of the Spirit of God
in our life, and I fear that we're
in a day when we're neglecting this truth.
We are.
We are depending on God's power.
And if all is failed, we will run
out.
And we need to be careful to avoid
that sort of speech, that sort of talk.
Now, that will help us to appreciate the
Spirit's ministry in dispensing gifts because we need
power for the exercise of our gifts.
Shall we turn to the 12th chapter of
1 Corinthians?
The Spirit's ministry in giving us gifts.
Verse 4, Now there are diversities of gifts,
but the same Spirit.
There are differences of administrations, but the same
Lord.
There are diversities of operations, but it is
the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given
to every man through prophethood of all.
For to one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom, to another the word
of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another the
gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to
another the working of miracles, to another prophecy,
to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of
tongues.
But all these worketh that one and selfsame
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he
will.
Now, we understand, of course, that part of
the gifts that are listed here, the miraculous
gifts, were consigned to these, and I'm very
sincere in that belief, that they were consigned
to the early days of the Church.
The early days of the Church, because the
word of God was not yet manifested, and
God wanted to manifest the authenticate, rather, the
testimony of the apostles through miracles.
And it was.
God did it that way.
And the tongues were one of those miracles.
Certainly, they did impress those people that were
at Pentecost when they heard the every man
in his own language the wonderful works of
God, the wonderful things of his glory.
And certainly, wherever those gifts were manifested, the
results occurred.
And there was a reason for it.
God showed those gifts, or gave those gifts,
those early gifts, that people might believe in
His face.
I think we ought to check that out
in the New Testament.
Let's notice Hebrews, chapter 2, verse
3, How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at the first began
to be spoken by the Lord, and was
confirmed unto us by them that heard him?
God also bearing them witness, both with signs
and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts
of the Holy Ghost, according to his own
will.
Now, what did God do by these miraculous
gifts?
He bore them witness.
He gave them witness.
It was the people.
Now, let's notice these.
I think we could refer to Scripture in
the book of Acts, I believe it's chapter
9, if I'm not mistaken, or I could
be mistaken.
Acts, chapter 9, verse 32, And it came
to pass, that Peter passed through all quarters,
and came down also to the saints which
dwelt at Lydda.
And there he found a certain man named
Ammias, which had kept his dead eight years,
and was sick with a cold.
And Peter said unto him, Ammias, Jesus Christ,
make of thee whole, arise and make thy
dead.
And he arose immediately.
And all that dwelt at Lydda and Sarum
saw him, and turned to the Lord.
Now, there is an example.
Now, we could go through the book of
Acts.
I'm not going to do it.
And see where miraculous powers were given to
his apostles, his disciples, his apostles.
And in each case, where those miraculous powers
were given, cold, disease, they turned to the
Lord.
The word of God was not complete.
This was the way God gave pain to
the message of the apostles, by doing these
miracles.
And that's why they were done.
But now the church in our age, we
have the word of God, and God works
miracles.
Yes, not as such, but they're miracles nevertheless.
And I think the greatest miracle of all
is the salvation of a precious soul.
That is a miracle that puts all other
miracles to shame far than this one.
The salvation of a precious soul.
Every time that we see a soul born
again, we see a miracle.
And how wonderful that miracle really is.
Now, it's not time for this, to go
into this whole question about tongues, miraculous gifts.
But the thing that I did want to
notice there, in the twelfth chapter of 1st
Corinthians, was that these gifts were given by
the Spirit of God, and they weren't all
given to one person.
You have to notice that.
But it does say, "...the manifestations of the
Spirit is given to every man, the prophet
of it all."
Then verse 11, "...but all these worketh that
one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as he will."
Now, the Spirit, in His sovereignty, selects the
gifts.
You do not choose your own gifts.
The Spirit gives those gifts to you.
It's up to you to recognize it.
But He does it to every man.
I've heard some people say, Oh, I'm not
gifted.
There isn't...
I have no gift at all.
Well, I beg to differ with you.
The Bible says you do have.
You just have not discovered what it is
yet.
Now, I don't mean that it's a showy
gift, ostentatious.
Use that word.
Not at all.
But you have gifts, and the Spirit of
God gives us those gifts.
Now, if the Spirit of God gives us
those gifts, we shouldn't be boastful about it,
should we?
The Apostle says to these Corinthians, he says,
What hast thou that thou didst not receive?
And if thou didst receive it, why hast
thou boasted, as if thou hadst not received
it?
We have no room for boasting.
Absolutely no room for boasting at all.
But we all do have gifts, and the
Scripture says we have.
But all these worketh at one and self
-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as
he will.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given
to every man to profit withal, and don't
rule out the laity.
These gifts are given, so that we might
profit, and that others might profit too.
And then he gives the illustration in the
12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, that these gifts
are to function together even as the body
functions together.
And these gifts are all given to one
for a person.
Now, there's more gifts in the 12th chapter
of Romans.
If you want to give gifts, if you
want to see these things, remember the 12th
chapter of Romans, the 12th chapter of Romans.
They're both 12 chapters.
And we see the same thing in the
12th chapter of Romans.
Perhaps we should turn to the 12th chapter
of Romans to emphasize a point.
Verse 5, So we being many are one
body in Christ, and every one members one
of another.
Having then gifts giving according to the grace
that is given to us, whether prophecy let
us prophesy according to the proportion of faith,
or ministry let us lead on our ministry.
For he that teacheth on teaching, for he
that exhorteth on exhortation, and he that giveth
let him do it with simplicity.
He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth
mercy with cheerfulness.
Now, there's no crossovers in these gifts.
If we have been given the gifts of
ministry, then let us wait on our ministering.
This is prayer.
This is not ministering as we're doing now.
This is ministry such as feeding it in
the church that's in freedom.
This is just deaconing, as I may use
the word.
It's the same word in Greek.
Let us wait on our ministering.
For he that teacheth on teaching.
No crossover.
In other words, keep in our spirit.
Find out what God has given us in
the way of gifts, and then exercise those
gifts.
Now, it's true that giving of gifts is
absolutely the responsibility of the sovereign spirit of
God and gifts to every man federally as
he will.
But I'll tell you what we can do.
We can develop our gifts.
That's within our power.
We do not choose our gifts.
The spirit of God does that.
But we can develop our gifts.
That is within our power, as a matter
of fact, the way it started to do
so.
1 Timothy, section 4.
Verse 12 of the fourth chapter of 1
Timothy.
Let no man despise thy youth.
These are an example of the believers in
word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in
faith, in purity.
No generation gap here, folks.
None whatsoever.
Paul exhorts Timothy, You just act like a
mature citizen.
Go ahead.
Let no man despise thy youth.
But these are an example of the believers.
None in all the like.
In word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit,
in faith, in purity.
Till I come give attendance the reading, the
legislation, the doctrine.
Neglect not the gift that is in you.
God gave you the gift.
You can't claim that you got it.
But you can discover it.
And you can develop it.
Now that's what we don't do.
We don't develop our gift.
We're not to be a judge of our
own gift.
I think the scriptures say, Well, let the
prophet speak two or three and let the
others judge.
Others can oftentimes tell us what our gift
is.
And we don't know it's us.
And in the multitude of counselors there's faith.
And oftentimes I think that we embark on
a line and say, this is my gift.
Well, I'll tell you, you'll be subject to
the other people of God, and they'll tell
you what your gift is.
And they won't be wrong.
They'll recognize that gift.
You stand so close to it that you
can see it.
You won't be able to see the wood
or the trees.
We're so prejudiced, we think.
And then, leaning on the iron flesh and
on the natural working that we have, we
know what our gift is.
Others will be able to tell us more
what our gift really is than we ourselves.
And we should take the word for it.
We should let the prophet speak two or
three and let the others judge.
We'll tell them whether or not we have
any gift.
We don't need to be afraid of the
estimate of our brethren.
Not at all.
There's no fear in faith.
And when I use and exercise faith, I
don't need to be afraid.
God will accomplish His purposes and His effects.
But we can develop our gift.
Thank God for that.
Now, it's all in the Spirit.
It's all of the gracious ministry of the
Spirit of God.
You're giving us a gift, and then giving
us the power to carry them out, and
develop them.
Now, I think that we have a full
lack in developing our gift.
And we've become occupied with the development of
our gift until we, perhaps, see a little
improvement.
And, after all, a gift is developed through
exercise.
An arm is strengthened through exercise.
And we very erroneously suppose that because we
can develop our gift, that we gave ourselves
a gift in person.
Well, no, we didn't.
That gift came from God.
But we can develop it.
The only trouble of it is, we note
a point of reference.
Then we develop.
We mature.
We become more proficient.
And we note another point of reference.
And we project backwards to the former point
of reference, until we think that we began
the gift.
We just often fear to drop the gift.
Now, it's up to you and me to
find out what it is.
And listen to the things of God.
We need each other's advice.
Now, I know this wouldn't be too welcome
to some segments of our attendees today.
But we do need each other's advice.
No man lives for himself alone, and no
man dies for himself alone.
We need each other.
And in the multitude of counselors, there's faith
too.
But the thing that strikes me, and the
thing that thrills my heart, which is all
of the Spirit of God, it begins with
Him.
He's the Spirit of God.
He continues on.
Why?
That you and I might have a sense
of usefulness.
That the church might be ministered unto.
That God might be glorified.
You and I have the pleasure of having
this power work in us to the glory
of God.
There are some real rewarding experiences in Christianity.
And that is the service we do for
others.
There is that little song, that little chorus,
about the way to tell joy.
This J-O-Y, Jesus, others, and you.
That's the way to tell joy.
And certainly our service for others.
Spirit begotten, Spirit gifted, Spirit empowered, will give
us an immense source of satisfaction.
I don't know whether you feel about it,
or you feel this way about it or
not, but it makes me feel good to
be able to do something for the Lord.
Now I don't mean that I take psalms,
or that I try to adjust my halo
or anything of the kind.
Not that at all.
But thank God He can use them.
And thank God He is able to do
a speeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think.
Because otherwise we don't ask, and we won't
plan, and we won't anticipate.
But He is able to do a speeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think
according to the power that worketh in us.
And don't forget that little preposition, peace.
It's the Spirit of God working in our
lives.
May we let go and let go.
May we get out of the way and
let Him work through us.
Now I've kept you five minutes ahead of
time.
I apologize.
Go to Mike.
Will you close with a word of prayer?
I have not listened to this teaching, to
this instruction.
But it will come to you all at
one moment with a certain and huge change.
You will see that it is my will
that I may be at work one day
at a time.
Day by day I'll call you as one
thing, which is that God wants us to
do.
May our leaders be true to this hope.
And may we call them the sons of
Israel and the daughters of Israel.
You are the sons of Israel.
You are the daughters of Israel.
So call on me saying that I have
spoken to you with the Spirit of God.
Let all these gifts that I have given
you speak in your mouths and may we
be called in many ways which can be
shown.
Amen.